Terrelle Pryor wasn’t great, but he wasn’t terrible, so he’s the Raiders’ QB for Week 1, you’d have to think

Terrelle Pryor didn’t look out of place as an NFL starting quarterback tonight in the Raiders’ exhibition finale at Seattle and that was quite important to find out. Many, many other QBs have looked far worse, and among that list I include Matt Flynn just last week.

Looking like a normal QB–that was the barometer, at least I think that was the barometer. I’m not exactly sure what precise criteria Raiders coach Dennis Allen is using to decide his QB for Week 1 and beyond. It’s all an inexact science, anyway, at this point.

Guess work. Gut feel. The Raiders aren’t winning a Super Bowl this season, or uncovering the next Brett Favre. They just want to settle on the QB–either the fleet and inexperienced Pryor or the veteran and often-shaky Flynn–that gives them their best shot at scoring points and maybe their brightest future.

So… with Flynn out nursing tendonitis in his throwing arm… it was Pryor’s start tonight, and his chance to seize control of this situation.

And… Pryor looked OK. Yes, I’m grading on a curve, but it’s the Raiders’ QB situation, you have to grade on a curve.

Pryor looked relatively calm. He didn’t look as exciting as he did last week, he made some mistakes, he certainly looks like he will wobble through nearly continuous growing pains.

He completed 3 of his 8 pass attempts, for 31 yards, threw an interception, which produced a paltry 9.9 passer rating. He also ran three times for 48 yards.

But this is one time that you have to throw out the passer rating–Pryor’s number gets knocked down for throwing that INT, which is never a good thing, except that one was a deep heave for an open Jacoby Ford that he slightly under threw, and those kinds of deep picks are acceptable once in a while.

You go for the vertical passing game, you take risks. It does hurt the passer rating when you miss, no doubt. (And Flynn could not have made that throw–even for it to be intercepted. I don’t want to blast Flynn, but this is not a QB who can even conceive of going vertical.)

Otherwise in his four-series outing, Pryor found Rod Streater for a couple of mid-range receptions on a 10-play drive to set up a field goal and didn’t get obviously rattled by Seattle’s crowd noise and defensive pressure.

Again, it’s not like Pryor looked like he was ready to snap off a 24-for-29, 320-yard, 3-TD, 0-INT stat line on the road any time soon. His receivers aren’t showing that a night like that is possible, anywa.

If the Raiders are looking for a QB to follow a consistent game plan, that would probably be Flynn.

But I think Allen and his staff are close to concluding that Flynn just isn’t talented enough to give them their best chance to win games.

Which led them to Pryor, this game, and the low-bar: Move the team, don’t look scared, run the offense to some degree of efficiency. All graded on a curve.

So… while last week Flynn very much seemed rattled by the pressure he was under (at home), Pryor showed (a bit) that he can deal with it–mostly because he can run, and also because defenses have to protect against him running so that slows down the all-out attack.

And Pryor doesn’t look like he’s just going to bolt at the first sign of trouble, either. He can move and look down field and throw. Again, not like Favre or Russell Wilson, but he’s not just a jack-rabbit out there.

–Side note: Rookie tackle Menelik Watson got his first playing time of the preseason, it was at the very important left tackle spot, and he didn’t do poorly at all. Very physical, maybe a little raw, but not bad.

In my mind, I think this all means that Pryor is going to be the Raiders’ starter next week in Indianapolis, whether Allen makes that official tonight after the game or whether the coach decides to delay the announcement for a little while longer.

I’m not saying Allen and his staff have to go ga-ga over Pryor and I know they might hesitate on this, at least for a few days.

But I can also see a way for Allen to do this reasonably: Announce that Pryor’s starting next week, but that Flynn’s injury was a partial factor (he couldn’t practice!), and that Flynn will be back competing for the job in practice.

That the Raiders have all the confidence in the world in Pryor, but that Flynn is still a co-No. 1, in case Pryor falters or the Raiders just want another look at QB–whether it’s within a game or from game to game.

I still think Pryor is the best choice and the natural choice. If this truly was a competition and these QBs are being measured by performance, it has to be.

With a talentless line, very raw WRs and really no help from a RB, Pryor needs to play his game and forget about being a pocket passer. Run for your life TP.

That being said, this whole season will be another step back. Worse than last year. From back to back 8-8 seasons to a steady decline in win totals, how can GM Reggie and Allen be allowed to return?

I hope I am proved wrong. I just can’t see anything positive from any aspect of this team – from Mark D to GM Reg to Allen to Pryor.

2-14 @best and GM Reggie and Allen sent packing along with the team and back to LA.

One last note to DC Tarver: PLAYERS DO SCORE TOUCHDOWNS!

Dan

Are you high?
A 9.9 passer rating, and you think he’s the “natural choice” to be the starter??

Utterly Shocked At Your Racism

Wow, really? He was 3-8 33%, 1 INT, for a whopping 31 yards and he was only sacked twice! This guy posts a 9.9 QB rating and all you have to say is “he wasn’t terrible?” C’mon, aren’t you aware that Terrelle Pryor is a black man just like Saint Doctor Martin Luther King? He was a mastermind out there! A true virtuoso with the pigskin! Take your racism and shove it, you pig!

Mike

Great Article Tim, wish I had known about you a while back, just started reading your stuff this year. Really like your stuff. Just as good if not better than Jerry’s and light years ahead of Cork…
Fair assessment, I think Watson is going to be the next Lincoln Kennedy….

autumn windchime

Listen, a perfect storm has to occur for us to make the playoffs this year. This team even has to play nearly perfect just to have a winning record. It’s no one’s fault, it just is. They just need to go out and play as hard as they can every time they take the field, and I believe this team will, regardless of whose starting. Besides, it’s more about who finishes. I’m not a fan of QB by committee, but that probably gives us the best chance to win, unless one of them snatches it. This will be a season of surprises, starting with the Colts. Every team is 0-16 right now and the Raiders just need to go out and stack one win on top of another one, beginning with upsetting the Colts week one.

Twinkie defense

I hope you’re right but I think you’re wrong – seems to me the Raiders long ago settled on Flynn, and it would have taken another breakout game (and not a 9.9 QB rating) from Pryor to even begin to change that. Plus Flynn was smirking when he said he didn’t know who would be starting.

Twinkie defense

And BTW if it is Pryor, how much money/picks were wasted on yet another Reggie McKenzie whiff?

LARRYkELLY

Give Matt a chance. His poor elbow will not allow him to stay the starter. Then Pryor can lead this team as it should be. I’ve been a Raiders fan since 1969.

tyler

pryor did a good job every one is judging off what his stats are, if you watch the game there was a few passes that the receivers dropped, now if those are caught then we would be having a completely different converstaions

Michael B

“Terrelle Pryor didn’t look out of place as an NFL starting quarterback tonight. . .”

Pryor’s passer rating was 9.9.

“I still think Pryor is the best choice and the natural choice. If this truly was a competition and these QBs are being measured by performance, it has to be.”

Pryor did have some passes dropped, but either way, not a great game – he didn’t put enough points on the board.

marko

Hear that Seneca Wallace might be available.

Harbaugh says SW retired. SW says Jim is full of it…

cajunkraut

As I said once before somewhere, you sports talking heads are every bit as bad as the news (using the term loosely) talking heads. I sometimes wonder if we’re in the same world and seeing the same things. GEEZ! Don’t you guys know that running quarterbacks don’t last. And they rarely win championships. The best of them, Fran Tarkenton, lost three Super Bowls. Okay, Kaepernick took the NFC. However, you may have noticed that he, one of the most mobile, lost to Joe Flacco. Nuff said on that one. Who are the champions…Brady, the brothers Manning, Brees, Elway, Bradshaw, Montana, Aikman, Griese. All have multiple Super Bowl wins. I forgot one you Raider fans might appreciate….a guy named Plunkett. The mobile guys tend to lose that one or not even get to it. Of the 10 top most mobile quarterbacks, McNabb, Flutie, Zorn, Marino, Staubach, Bobby Douglass, Vick, Cunningham, Young, and Tarkenton, only Staubach even made to the Super Bowl. I’ll give you this, TP might be able to move the ball a bit this year, but don’t look for him to win the big for you. Quarterbacks just like Flynn win this game. With a decent OL and good targets, he could take you a long way. However, you have managed to put together a team that Johny U himself probably couldn’t turn into a winner.